


A Rose Would Be Too Sweet

by Figurly



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 00:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3189344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Figurly/pseuds/Figurly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alonzo, a thief, waits nervously for his best friend, Synn, a palace guard, to return from her meeting with the king. The news she brings causes long buried feelings to rise, and more turmoil than he could have expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rose Would Be Too Sweet

“I got you flowers. Pure, legally acquired flowers, just picked. For you.”

Alonzo displayed the underwhelming bouquet of lilacs and yellow tulips to a disinterested squirrel. The thief’s see through grin melted off his face as he turned to pace back and forth, muttering curses at himself and glancing periodically at the tree line to see if she had appeared yet. Next to him, the lake shimmered with the reflection of the stars, serving as a reminder of how late it was. How late she was.

Anxiety built upon in Alonzo as he pondered her fate. Synn had been in too much of a rush this morning to talk to him. Her uniform, which had never had a speck of dirt on it in the ten years he had known her, somehow managed to shine even more than usual. In place of her calm, if not a little bit annoyed, expression, there was worry. He was barely able to arrange a meeting with her outside of the city walls before she ran off, shouting about being late to see the king.

“This is stupid. She’ll hate it. She’d hate anything I got for her.” He rambled to nothing in particular, now that the squirrel had run away. “Can’t steal anything or she’ll get mad. Can’t buy anything or she’ll get mad at me for stealing the money.”

He knew it was rational for her to be upset. Most would disapprove of his line of work, and as the second in command of the city’s police force and his best friend, she condemned it more than anyone. However, when it came to his relationship with Synn, Alonzo was used to ignoring the facts. Instead, he stared at the drooping daisies and sighed, “It’s best to just throw these away before she sees them.”

“Alonzo?”

“Ah!” He looked down to his hands, where the embarrassing display of flora was still in his grasp. Synn emerged from the trees, her armor from this morning gone, but a weapon still slung across her back. Her shoulders, which were usually held high, slumped forward as she shuffled into the clearing. Like it was a heavy burden, she lifted her head, only to pause when she saw what he was holding.

She remained still for a few moments, her mouth opening and closing like a fish’s while Alonzo’s arms moved sporadically, trying to decide if it was too late to discard the flowers without her getting suspicious. Finally, she said, “Are those… For me?”

Alonzo launched into a series of excuses, “Look, all I know is you said you were going to see the king this morning, and you looked pretty nervous about it. And I didn’t know if it was a good nervous or a bad nervous, you never really open up, so I thought about getting you a present, but I can’t-!”

Synn waved her hand, her face cast downward. The thief took her cues and stopped his babbling, shifting from foot to foot as he waited for her to respond. “I got the promotion. I’m Captain now.” She said.

The flowers scattered across the forest floor as he rocketed towards his friend, his arms enveloping and lifting her into the air in a rare hug. A choking noise escaped from her throat, which Alonzo mistook as surprise. He twirled on his heels, the wind whipping hair around their faces so that they both looked disheveled when he set her down again. A smile spread from ear to ear across his face while her frown did likewise.

“I knew you could do it!” He held her to his chest, her face buried there as her hands flew up to shove herself away. Alonzo pulled back as soon as he felt her fight, his grin depleting as he stared down at his friend.

“Alonzo.” Her voice soft while her hands stayed in fists. She refused to meet his gaze, instead opting to gaze at the lilacs scattered by her feet. “I need you to listen to me carefully.”

“What?” The thief leaned down and she backed away immediately, shrugging his hands off her shoulders in the process.

Synn ran her hands through her orange hair, the thief staring as the long bangs were pushed back, “I can’t...”

Alonzo’s heart dropped as he looked at her. He knew what was happening. He had been in her position before.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

His blood pounded in his ears to the point where he could barely hear her hushed words, and his mind dizzied with his racing thoughts. Desperate, and refusing to believe the worst, he stuttered, “Do you mean meeting out here? Because we can go somewhere else-.”

“Meeting at all.” She said.

Alonzo took in a deep breath and stepped backward, the flowers crunching under foot as he attempted to understand what she was saying. “Why?”

She sighed, lifting her eyes for the first time to meet his. They were rimmed with red, but as stern as always. “There are rumors about us. If anyone found any real evidence…”

“Sure, but, there’s always been rumors.” Alonzo insisted.

She shook her head. “It’s different now. I’m Captain. People will try anything to get rid of me. I just don’t want to give them the fuel.” She sighed, “We knew this was coming eventually."

“Yeah, well, we’ve already gone through this.” He chuckled nervously but it came out more like a scoff, “I- We’ve tried to part ways before, Synn. It never works out.”

“I know, which is why…” Her voice broke, and Alonzo became immediately aware of the knot growing in his own throat. She clenched her fists and continued, “Which is why I was thinking that this time you could leave. For good.”

His breath hitched, tears distorting his vision as he shook his head. Another weak laugh tried to cover up his sadness but ultimately sounded more like a cry. “You can’t just make me leave.”

The only person he could confidently call his friend drew her sword. It sparkled under the reflected light of the stars, its hilt engraved with intricate images and encrusted with gold and emeralds. Alonzo’s eyes widened at the sight of it. The Captain’s sword was designed to fill those who saw it with awe and fear, and it performed its job well. Despite its intimidating legacy Synn held the weapon with confidence, as though its natural place was the palm of her hand.

“I can make you leave. It would be easy.” She said, leveling the point of it with his throat. Her voice was still clogged with tears and her hands shook, but she held her ground. The blade seemed to calm her. The longer it was in her hands, the more level her breathing became.

“This is insane. You’re really going to make me leave? For what?” Desperation filled him as he threw his hands into the air, “Your job?”

He had always known she was powerful; being a woman in the guard was no easy feat, after all. But for the first time he understood why so many whispered when they spoke of her deeds and cowered at the thought of confronting her. Many had lectured him against crossing her path, and now that she stood over him, the glint of her blade matching the steel in her eyes, he sympathized with them.

“I was kicked out of the Thieves Guild for you. I’ve spent countless nights in prison just to be with you!” Confronted with her fury, he released his own, “I’ve comforted you, laughed with you, I-!”

Alonzo stopped himself, mouth and eyes wide as he watched her expression harden.

“Synn,” He whispered, heart wrenching as he spoke the words that had been held back for years, “I love you.”

She faltered, the sword dipping towards the ground for just a second before she lunged, swinging it toward him, forcing him to duck and consequently stumble backwards onto the ground, barely cushioned by a bed of the trodden flowers.

“Leave!” She screamed at him, the coolness temporarily granted by her blade gone as her emotions spilled over. All the time she had devoted to burying them since her first interaction with the thief at last let loose on him. Crying and fury both erupted out of her as she stabbed the weapon into the ground beside him.

Alonzo stumbled back, pulling himself to his feet as his own emotions poured out. Water blurred his vision as he grasped for words, “Synn, please, calm down. Just because you’re Captain doesn’t mean we can’t stay friends.”

“We both know we passed friendship a long time ago.”

His mouth opened to protest, but nothing came out.

“When the king called me this morning, he seemed upset. He told me he had heard about us. He claimed I went too easy on you,” With every word, her hand tightened around the hilt of the blade, “and that if a thief had really caused me so much trouble I should have ha…” Her hand lifted to her throat, the last word cut off by her own shaky breath.

“Synn…” Alonzo tentatively reached his hand out.

“I should have hanged him long ago.” She finished, ignoring his gesture. “I thought that my life was over then, that he was going to remove me from the guard and I’d have to- Well, I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.”

“And I don’t know what I’d do without you!” Alonzo’s face was filled with desperation as he spoke.

Synn flinched. “Please believe me when I say this is the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. Don’t make it any harder.”

“Don’t act so high and mighty!” He shouted, “Like you’re the only one who has ever had to make this decision! I went through the same thing, and I chose you!”

“Don’t act as though your place in the Thieves’ Guild is as important as this. I protect people, Alonzo, and you get in the way of that.” She said, eyeing her sword once more, as though it contained the hopes of everyone in the city. “If I care about them at all, I have to do this.”

“So, that’s it, then?” Alonzo turned over her words in his head for a while, anger and sadness boiling inside him. The thief gave one last kick to the already abused bouquet, before turning his back to her. “If they really mean more to you than me, then I’ll leave.”

“I’m sorry.” She was shaking again, her head turned away from him.

“Try not to be.” He muttered, sinking into the trees, “You only did what you thought was right.”

Synn didn’t wait long after he disappeared to collapse into the soil, her hands groping through the remains of the blossoms, crying apologies as she gathered them. Thoughts of the king and her duty were far behind her as she held the flowers to her chest. Her sword lay forgotten in the dirt beside her, crushing the already beaten petals beneath it.

**Author's Note:**

> All I ever write for these two is backstory. Sorry if it's a little confusing. I hope to be uploading more of their backstory in the future, and maybe start on the actual plot they're involved in?


End file.
